AN ALL YOU CAN EAT TUESDAY BUFFET

About 45 minutes west of Harriman, up on the Cumberland Plateau, is Cumberland Mountain State Park. We have gone there for years starting way back in the 60’s. It’s a lovely little state park with gently rolling hills, deep untouched forest with winding trails, a lovely lake brimming with fish, a huge swimming pool, lots of cabins and camping sites, and rustic sandstone lodge sitting right in the middle. Inside this main building is a wonderful kitchen that turns out delicious food almost every night, served up buffet style.

No, it’s not an ordinary buffet where all the selections taste like all the food was cooked in the same pot. This buffet has never failed to please all my senses: my vision, my olfactory, and my gustation! Seriously good tasting chicken, roast beef, BBQ, catfish, with all the vegetable and bread trimmings! Tuesdays are set aside for a seafood bonanza that includes: fried and peel-and-eat shrimp, scallops, fried and baked catfish, crab legs, and salmon cut in the shape of a crab shell and stuffed with crab stuffing! OMG folks, it was all great…and then there were the hush puppies!

The other offerings were coleslaw, a pea salad, a salad bar, chocolate cake, banana pudding, and soft-serve ice cream! Tuesday is not the only fantastic evening either:

Cumberland Mtn. Restaurant Dining Schedule - Open 7 Days a Week

Monday - Saturday: Lunch - 11:00 a.m.- 2:30 p.m. - Dinner - 4:00-8:00 p.m.

Sunday: All day - 11:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Tuesday - Seafood Buffet with All You Can Eat Crab Legs - 4:00-8:00 p.m.

Friday - All You Can Eat Catfish (baked or fried) - 4:00-8:00 p.m.

Saturday - All You Can Eat Rib Night - 4:00-8:00 p.m.

Well, I jumped right to the eating part, and left out the visiting Neena and Ron at their campsite! Their grandson Chandler (“Chan Man” as we call him) has been visiting with them this past week and so they took him to Cumberland Mountain State Park to camp, swim, hike, and eat!

Charlotte and Gary drove up to the park as well. We had a great time visiting before and after the feast. It was very pleasant today with the temps in the high 70’s to mid-80’s and bearable humidity. We were also thankful that the only bugs we saw were a few flies that only visited briefly.

We all got a kick out of Chandler climbing around on everything and playing in the campfire. It reminded us all of our own youth and how the fire always seemed to be the center of the camping trip. We would play in it, disregarding the warning that we would “wet the bed” if we played in the fire! It was something my grandmother always threatened me with so that I would not poke things down into her wood stove, or spit on the top to watch the water dance off into oblivion!

You can also see that Judy was trying to excite me with her tongue-to-straw-action! It worked!

Ron and Gary both have campers, Ron’s, as you can see is a “pull behind”, while Gary’s is a mid-size motorhome. Judy and I struggled with the idea of getting one as well, but after a couple of weeks of agonizing over it we came to the conclusion that an RV was just not for us. It was amazing how relieved we both were to finally come to that decision.

However, Ron/Neena and Gary/Charlotte all seem to love their campers, so more power to them.

We can hardly wait for them to camp at Cumberland Mountain again, so we can drive up, eat, and come home!